Casera, a new healthcare technology startup in Seattle, is spinning out of Pioneer Square Labs with a unique approach to hospital operations: using “agentic AI” to automate the work of case managers and speed up patient flow.
The company is tackling a thorny problem in healthcare: unnecessary length of stay driven by operational friction. Delays in communication, payer authorization and discharge planning can add time to a patient’s stay — and thousands of dollars in expenses for hospitals each day, according to Casera.
The company’s software is built for case managers, who coordinate the operational steps required to move patients safely through the system.
Casera describes its product as a “Case Manager Digital Agent” that operates inside communication channels, watching for context and then triggering next steps — for example, following up on a pending prior authorization or making sure all tasks for a complex discharge have owners and due dates.
Casera’s system plugs into existing collaboration and communication tools, and helps identify “what needs to happen, who needs to be involved, and helps ensure it gets done,” according to CEO Neeraj Singh Bhavani, who previously started patient-flow startup Tagnos (acquired by Sonitor).
Bhavani sees the company’s main competition in vendors that have traditionally focused on patient flow and hospital capacity management, including Qventus, LeanTaaS and TeleTracking. But he said Casera is attacking a different layer of the problem by focusing on “getting things done versus telling what to do.”
“Not trying to be another legacy dashboard and analytics player,” he told GeekWire.
Casera is working with a design partners across major health systems in three states. It has not generated revenue.
Casera’s other co-founder is CTO Alex Levin, who previously started revenue intelligence company MD Clarity (acquired by private equity). A third early leader, Jhayne Pana, was previously an assistant nurse manager with MultiCare Health.
The company has raised $1 million from PSL and has less than ten employees. PSL previously spun out Kevala, a healthcare staffing software company that was acquired earlier this year.
“Tackling patient flow with automation is a massive opportunity, and a very good use case for multiple agentic applications,” T.A. McCann, managing director at Pioneer Square Labs, said in a statement. “It’s an area we know well and in addition to the clear market need, the opportunity to work with two, recently-exited founders was a huge bonus.”
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